Monday, 8/1/22: Talking about the first of the month falling on a Monday and August plans

Happy Monday!

It’s a new week, which means it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter.

Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday, a short story and a roundup of positive thoughts to get your week started.

Three Steps to a Happier Monday

Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.  

Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend? 

Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?

Step 3: What is my intention for this week? 

GRATITUDE: I’m thankful for the absolutely beautiful weather in Chicago, completing a physical feat of walking 50,000 steps Saturday (“walkapalooza” ;)) and time to recharge before this week.

TODAY: I’m most excited that today is the first day of a new month AND the first day of a new week. Happy August! 

INTENTION: My intention this week is to ease into a new August routine. 

Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂

Meaningful Musings: August 2022 Thoughts and Goals 

Happy August!

When the first of the month falls on a Monday, you know it is going to be a great month.

I love the start of a new month. My freshman year college roommate and I even had a song we sang to celebrate (“First of the month, what-what-what, first of the month!” Suffice to say, neither of us studied music or songwriting in school )

To me, there is just something inherently hopeful about turning the calendar and starting over at 1. What will this month bring? What do I want to focus on this month? And, as mentioned last week, I’m yearning for a fresh-start feeling right now.

Summer is an interesting time, right? I love it, but it’s a bit chaotic. Schedules change, things slow down – but at the same time – some things (like work) stay the same. I feel like I’m constantly oscillating between thinking about play when I should be working or thinking about work when I should be playing.

Coupled with consuming updates about tough-to-process current events juxtaposed against content about fun, incredible-looking travel and summer activities, it’s no wonder I’ve been feeling a bit “meh.” Doing the continual mental gear shift takes its toll and I can feel myself slipping into auto-pilot mode where I just fill the time between holiday weekends.

When I sat down to think about all of this, I realized what an opportunity it is that August of all months starts on a Monday.

Hear me out: August has the potential to bring some “meh” energy. If your seasonal circumstances are somewhat like me (not following an academic calendar that begins in August; August = last full month of guaranteed summer weather), then August does have the tendency to feel like “the Sunday of summer.” There’s something bittersweet in the air during August. As the poet Sylvia Plath wrote, “August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.” It would be all too easy to stay on that auto-pilot mode and ride it out until Labor Day.

But something about the first of August falling on a Monday makes me reconsider. With this momentum of a fresh-start-feeling, can I go from meh to yay? (too early in the morning for something poesy??) 

So, this morning, I wanted to share some of the questions I asked myself last weekend while pondering what I want from August. I’m sharing this morning in case you are interested… read on for more! And hey, reflecting on these questions yourself could make for a great Monday morning activity.

3 planning questions for August 2022: 

What are the things I love about this month and want to cherish?

+ The weather. I sound like a broken record, but when you live in a place where winter takes up ~6 months of the year, this time is sacred. 

+ The amount of daylight. Love how early the sun rises and how late it sets. I just naturally have more energy! 

+ The summer mentality. I don’t want to skip over this last month of summer and go right back to routine mode, but compared to how I felt at the beginning of summer, I do feel a yearning to get a bit closer to a semblance of a routine, making the transition to September (when things pick up) easier.    

Is there anything unique about August of this year?

+ Summer Friday schedule at work. Last month of Summer Fridays! I’ve so been enjoying frontloading my hours in the first half of the week to log off early on Friday. 5 more Summer Fridays left! 

+ No traveling or in-town visitors planned. Besides a quick weekend trip this weekend, I’m not traveling at all in August or hosting any visitors. This is important for me to recognize as it will drastically change in the months to come (which is exciting!).

+ I can run (+ not beholden to any particular workout)! I was still having issues with my IT band last August, so I’m really excited to be able to consistently run this month. I don’t take it for granted. I’m also still not committed to any ongoing memberships (since my Bar Method studio closed a few months ago), so I have flexibility with what I choose to do in terms of movement. 

How do I want to feel at the end of August? 

+ Relaxed and rested. In the past couple of weeks, my September and October plans have filled up fast. ALL good things and I’m so excited for what’s to come, but it does make me appreciate the minimal number of commitments I have this month. Want to lean into that slowness and charge up for the next couple months. 

+ Prepared for the months to come. In addition to feeling mentally prepared (per the above), I also want to think about what I can do this month to make the transition to a busy fall and holiday season easier. What do I need to get? How can I save some money for these fun things? How do I fully take advantage of the warm, sunny weather before it changes? 

+ Centered. I want to continue moving from a feeling of “meh” to “yay” with small daily actions that make me feel good. I want to get re-centered on a few things at work. And, I want to think about my spiritual routine (when I feel “meh” it’s usually a signal I’ve strayed a bit in this area). 

After I took the time to answer those three questions, I was able to niche down even more and identify tiny (emphasis on the “tiny!”) actions I could take on a daily, weekly and ongoing basis in August to help cherish what’s unique about this month and bring me closer to how I want to feel a few weeks from now.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

Goals for August 2022: 

Daily

• Run (or walk) at least one mile every day. I love a daily streak and I’ve done this running-related one before. It’s a great way to get outside daily (enjoying the weather – check!), but it’s not too much of a commitment that I can’t stick with it (some days I just do a mile and some days I do more). 
• Enjoy a social media-free August. I’ve actually been off social media for a few weeks. I feel more relaxed without it, so I decided I want to continue the trend this month since I’m trying to do just that (relax and recharge – check!). It’s not the content I consume on social media that stresses me out, but rather, I get so conditioned to the scrolling that any time I have a free moment (in between meetings, waiting for the elevator, wanting to numb uncomfortable feelings), I reach for my phone and open an app. But when I take social media off the table, something magical happens… I naturally reach for more restorative things (like a book, a crossword puzzle, a text to a friend, or – gasp – a quick nap) and actually give my brain a break.

Weekly 

• Start a Monday morning recharge ritual. I got this idea from a blog post about recharge rituals in busy times. The author talked about trading off with her husband weekly for one of them to do an early morning workout + hour of uninterrupted work time at a coffee shop on Monday morning. I thought, I want to do that!! So, early on Monday mornings in August I’m planning to go to the Starbucks on my corner and do “me” things for an hour or two. I might do some writing for this newsletter, weekly planning & prioritizing or read. I’m so excited about this because my energy and motivation are naturally higher in the beginning of the week and dwindle as the week goes on. I’m curious to see if prioritizing a personal work session early in the week will have residual effects of letting me relax and “just be” in times when my energy is lower later in the week. We shall see!  
• Implement a few no-spend days/week and shop from a list. Both of these are great tactics that minimize impulse buying for me, allowing myself to prepare for things to come and also save money.  

Ongoing 

• Read books that inspire and excite me. Reading feels so restorative to me, and with the downtime I have in August, I want to read some books that will push me. I picked up this Ann Patchett (one of my favorite authors) book and this Cal Newport nonfiction one at the library yesterday. Excited to dig into both. 
• Celebrate August birthdays and plan for September ones. I love celebrating my people through birthdays and there are a lot of birthdays in August and September! Yay!
• Weekend workout classes. I love going to a Saturday or Sunday morning workout class. I want to take advantage of being home most weekends in August and go to a few Barry’s classes and maybe try CorePower Yoga.  
• Cultivate a weekly faith routine that feels right to me. Something that will fill me up… spiritually, mentally and directionally. 

OKAY! That’s it. When I write it all out, I recognize it looks like a lot. But it’s interesting because it doesn’t feel like a lot. Because of the reflection from the three questions I asked myself, I was able to get really clear on how I want to feel throughout this month and what actions I could take on a daily, weekly and ongoing basis to get there. Of course, we know things don’t always go as we plan, but I’m feeling really excited about this August!!

Thanks for keeping me company. 🙂 And for your August, I hope you have an amazing month full of what you need most right now, whether that’s setting goals or not setting goals or something else entirely. 

It’s going to be a great month for us. Let’s do this! 

On My Monday Radar

Sometimes we just aren’t ready to jump into our Monday to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here is a roundup of a few positive things on my radar:  

• A happiness columnist’s three biggest “happiness rules.” For the 100th article of The Atlantic’s “How to Build a Life” column, columnist Arthur Brooks offers his three “maxims” of happiness. These are the three big-picture truths about happiness that, in his opinion, transcend circumstance and time. 1) Mother Nature doesn’t care if you are happy (happiness is an inside job & a responsibility); 2) Lasting happiness comes from habits, not hacks; 3) Happiness is love. Agree/disagree? I thought they were good reminders. 
• Found this midsummer pep talk podcast episode encouraging. The episode is actually what got my wheels turning for the idea of today’s newsletter. I think the host does a great job of reminding us to pause and check in with what we need for ourselves right now. Also loved this episode by the same podcaster released this week about transitioning your routines from one season to the next. 
• As you think about what you need right now and transitioning routines, may I suggest also pondering the idea of tiny anchors. OH, I love this blog post. It is an oldie but a goodie filled with so many great ideas (don’t skip the comments section!) of tiny anchors that bring a bit of certainty and familiarity to the every day. I reread it this weekend as I thought about August and reflected on what tiny anchors I want to cling to, reminding me to be present and slow down just a bit throughout my day. 
• I can’t WAIT for this book to come out next month: Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most. Time management is just one of those topics I love reading about. I’m not sure why? But the description of this book sounds RIGHT up my alley. It’s written by a psychologist who “teaches how small changes can have an enormous impact, helping you feel less overwhelmed, more present, and more satisfied with your life overall. It all starts by transforming just one hour into a happier hour.” Yes please!!

That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this! 

Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan